May 22, 2012

If the recent Lab Notes post about Mallory Kievman, the 13-year-old inventor of hiccup-quelling Hiccupops, left you unimpressed, say hello to Jack Andraka of Maryland. His invention of a dip-stick sensor chemically derived from the test paper used to diagnose diabetes has proven to be a breakthrough event in the detection of early-stage pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms. Its accuracy rate is better than 90 percent, and it's 28 times as fast, 28 times cheaper, and literally a hundred times more sensitive than the diagnostic tests used at present. He's already received the $75,000 first-place award at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Jack Andraka is 15 years old.

River Ranch Fresh Foods, CA, expanded its recent voluntary recall of bagged salads to the entire country after Listeria bacteria had been detected in a routine sampling. The recall initially included lettuce shipped to CA and CO. The salads are sold under the names Cross Valley, Farm Stand, The Farmer’s Market, Fresh n Easy, Hy-Vee, Marketside, Promark, River Ranch, Shurfresh and Sysco. The recalled bags have “best by” dates between 5/12 and 5/29 or Julian dates of 118 and 125. Listeria, which was found in cantaloupes last year, killed 30 people. Symptoms include fever, headache, diarrhea and convulsions. Listeria is not killed by refrigeration and symptoms may appear weeks after the contaminated food has been eaten. Consumers should contact River Ranch at 1-800-762-7708 with questions.